Lucy Suchman: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 02:17, 26 December 2021 editDotx3 (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users2,132 edits added a sentence on work at PARCTag: Visual edit ← Previous edit		Revision as of 02:22, 26 December 2021 edit undoDotx3 (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users2,132 editsmNo edit summaryTag: Visual edit Next edit →
Line 31:		Line 31:
	Her current research extends her longstanding critical engagement with the field of human-computer interaction to the domain of contemporary war fighting, including problems of ‘situational awareness’ in military training and simulation, and in the design and deployment of automated weapon systems. At the center of this research is the question of whose bodies are incorporated into military systems, how and with what consequences for social justice and the possibility for a less violent world.<ref name="Suchman" /> Suchman is a member of ]<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.icrac.net/members/lucy-suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|date=2013-07-03\|website=ICRAC\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref> and the author of the blog dedicated to the problems of ethical robotics and 'technocultures of humanlike machines'<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://robotfutures.wordpress.com/author/suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|last=Suchman\|first=Lucy\|website=Robot Futures\|language=en\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref>		Her current research extends her longstanding critical engagement with the field of human-computer interaction to the domain of contemporary war fighting, including problems of ‘situational awareness’ in military training and simulation, and in the design and deployment of automated weapon systems. At the center of this research is the question of whose bodies are incorporated into military systems, how and with what consequences for social justice and the possibility for a less violent world.<ref name="Suchman" /> Suchman is a member of ]<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.icrac.net/members/lucy-suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|date=2013-07-03\|website=ICRAC\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref> and the author of the blog dedicated to the problems of ethical robotics and 'technocultures of humanlike machines'<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://robotfutures.wordpress.com/author/suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|last=Suchman\|first=Lucy\|website=Robot Futures\|language=en\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref>

	Before coming to Lancaster, she worked for 22 years at Xerox's ] (PARC) in California, where she held the positions of Principal Scientist and Manager of the Work Practice and Technology research group.<ref name="Adelson 2003 290" /><ref>{{cite web \|title=Agencies at the Interface: Colloquium with Lucy Suchman \|url=http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2009/05/11/agencies-interface-colloquium-lucy-suchman \|work=MIT Media Lab \|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology \|access-date=25 November 2012}}</ref> While at PARC, she conducted an influential ethnographic study, using video, of office workers struggling to use a copy machine, today often referred to as one of the first instances of corporate ethnography.<ref>{{Cite web\|date=2013-12-03\|title=Mythbusting: Corporate Ethnography and the Giant Green Button\|url=https://www.parc.com/blog/mythbusting-corporate-ethnography-and-the-giant-green-button/\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=PARC\|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Gross\|first=Ana\|last2=Suchman\|first2=Lucy\|date=2021-09-30\|title=Lucy Suchman in Conversation with Ana Gross\|url=https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/13414\|journal=Sociologica\|language=en\|volume=15\|issue=2\|pages=179–185\|doi=10.6092/issn.1971-8853/13414\|issn=1971-8853}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|~~date~~=~~2005-12-19~~\|~~title~~=~~The~~ ~~Impact of Emerging Technologies:~~ Field Work in the Tribal Office\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051219052921/https://www.technologyreview.com/articles/98/05/buderi0598.asp\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=~~web.archive.org~~}}</ref>		Before coming to Lancaster, she worked for 22 years at Xerox's ] (PARC) in California, where she held the positions of Principal Scientist and Manager of the Work Practice and Technology research group.<ref name="Adelson 2003 290" /><ref>{{cite web \|title=Agencies at the Interface: Colloquium with Lucy Suchman \|url=http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2009/05/11/agencies-interface-colloquium-lucy-suchman \|work=MIT Media Lab \|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology \|access-date=25 November 2012}}</ref> While at PARC, she conducted an influential ethnographic study, using video, of office workers struggling to use a copy machine, today often referred to as one of the first instances of corporate ethnography.<ref>{{Cite web\|date=2013-12-03\|title=Mythbusting: Corporate Ethnography and the Giant Green Button\|url=https://www.parc.com/blog/mythbusting-corporate-ethnography-and-the-giant-green-button/\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=PARC\|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Gross\|first=Ana\|last2=Suchman\|first2=Lucy\|date=2021-09-30\|title=Lucy Suchman in Conversation with Ana Gross\|url=https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/13414\|journal=Sociologica\|language=en\|volume=15\|issue=2\|pages=179–185\|doi=10.6092/issn.1971-8853/13414\|issn=1971-8853}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|last=Buderi\|first=Robert\|date=May 1, 1998\|title=Field Work in the Tribal Office\|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/1998/05/01/41585/field-work-in-the-tribal-office/\|url-status=live\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051219052921/https://www.technologyreview.com/articles/98/05/buderi0598.asp\|archive-date=2005-12-19\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=MIT Technology Review\|language=en}}</ref>

	Suchman is a graduate of the ], obtaining her BA in 1972, MA in 1977, and Doctorate in Social and Cultural ] in 1984.<ref name="Suchman" /> While at Berkeley, she wrote her dissertation on the work practices of accountants. She studied procedural office work to understand how it was similar to and different from a program, assumptions around the work, and how the work informed the design of these systems.		Suchman is a graduate of the ], obtaining her BA in 1972, MA in 1977, and Doctorate in Social and Cultural ] in 1984.<ref name="Suchman" /> While at Berkeley, she wrote her dissertation on the work practices of accountants. She studied procedural office work to understand how it was similar to and different from a program, assumptions around the work, and how the work informed the design of these systems.

Revision as of 02:22, 26 December 2021

British sociologist

Lucy Suchman
Lucy Suchman
Born	Ithaca, New York
Occupation(s)	Professor, anthropologist
Employer	Lancaster University
Known for	Human–computer interaction
Website	lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/profiles/31/

Lucy Suchman is a Professor of Anthropology of Science and Technology in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University, in the United Kingdom.

Her current research extends her longstanding critical engagement with the field of human-computer interaction to the domain of contemporary war fighting, including problems of ‘situational awareness’ in military training and simulation, and in the design and deployment of automated weapon systems. At the center of this research is the question of whose bodies are incorporated into military systems, how and with what consequences for social justice and the possibility for a less violent world. Suchman is a member of International Committee for Robot Arms Control and the author of the blog dedicated to the problems of ethical robotics and 'technocultures of humanlike machines'

Before coming to Lancaster, she worked for 22 years at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in California, where she held the positions of Principal Scientist and Manager of the Work Practice and Technology research group. While at PARC, she conducted an influential ethnographic study, using video, of office workers struggling to use a copy machine, today often referred to as one of the first instances of corporate ethnography.

Suchman is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, obtaining her BA in 1972, MA in 1977, and Doctorate in Social and Cultural Anthropology in 1984. While at Berkeley, she wrote her dissertation on the work practices of accountants. She studied procedural office work to understand how it was similar to and different from a program, assumptions around the work, and how the work informed the design of these systems.

Research

Suchman's early research was heavily influenced by ethnomethodology, a subfield of sociology that argued that people create meaningful action by improvising based on their social and environmental resources. Suchman's book, Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem of Human-machine Communication (1987), provided intellectual foundations for the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). She challenged common assumptions behind the design of interactive systems with a cogent anthropological argument that human action is constantly constructed and reconstructed from dynamic interactions with the material and social worlds. The theory of situated cognition emphasises the importance of the environment as an integral part of the cognitive process. She has made fundamental contributions to ethnographic analysis, conversational analysis and Participatory Design techniques for the development of interactive computer systems.

An updated version of the book was published in 2007. This second edition, called Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Action, included five new chapters exploring developments in the field of computing and social studies technology since the mid-1980s. Specifically, Suchman addressed the relationship and interactions between humans and machines with a focus on the idea of human-like machines. Her later research is dedicated to problems of autonomy and control in human-technology interaction with emphasis on autonomous weapon systems.

Professional affiliations

In 1988, Suchman served as the Program Chair for the Second Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. She also served as the Program Chair for the first Conference on Participatory Design of Computer Systems. Between 1982 and 1990, Suchman was on the board of directors of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, a group she helped to form. Suchman is currently a member of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control. In addition, she serves as a Collaborating Editor for Social Studies of Science.

Suchman is also affiliated with numerous academic institutions. She served as president of the Society for Social Studies of Science from 2016-2017. She has served as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow with King's College London's Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group and as an Adjunct Professor for the Interaction Design and Work Practice Laboratory at Sydney's University of Technology. Suchman currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Publications

This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Misplaced Pages's inclusion policy. (May 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Suchman, L. (1987) Plans and situated actions : The Problem of Human-Machine Communication. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Suchman, L. (1993) Response to Vera and Simon's Situated Action: A Symbolic Interpretation. Cognitive Science, 17:71—75, 1993.
Suchman, L. (1995) Making Work Visible. Communications of the ACM, 38 (9). pp. 56–61+.
Suchman, L. (1995) Representations of Work (Special Report). Communications of the ACM, 38 (9). pp. 33–68.
Suchman, L. and Blomberg, J. and Orr, J. E. (1999) Reconstructing Technologies as Social Practice. The American Behavioral Scientist, 43 (3). pp. 392–408.
Suchman, L. (2000) Embodied Practices of Engineering Work. Mind, Culture and Activity, 7 (1&2). pp. 4–18.
Suchman, L. (2000) Making a case: knowledge and routine work in document production. In: Workplace studies : recovering work practice and informing system design. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 29–45.
Suchman, L. (2000) Organising alignment : a case of bridge-building. Organization, 7 (2). pp. 311–327.
Suchman, L. and Bishop, L. (2000) Problematizing 'Innovation' as a Critical Project. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 12 (3). pp. 327–333.
Suchman, L. (2002) Practice-based design of information systems : notes from the hyperdeveloped world. The Information Society, 18 (2). pp. 139–144.
Suchman, L. A. and Blomberg, J. and Trigg, R. (2002) Working Artefacts: Ethnomethods of the prototype. British Journal of Sociology, 53 (2). pp. 163–179.
Suchman, L. (2003) Figuring service in discourses of ICT: the case of software agent. In: Global and Organizational Discourses about Information Technology. International Federation for Information Processing . Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 15–32.
Suchman, L. (2003) Organising alignment. In: Knowing in organisations: a practice-based approach. M. E. Sharpe, London, pp. 187–203.
Suchman, L. (2004) Decentring the manager/designer. In: Managing as designing. Stanford Business Books, Stanford, pp. 169–73.
Suchman, L. (2004) Methods and madness. In: First person : new media as story, performance, and game. MIT Press, London, pp. 95–98.
Suchman, L. (2004) Talking things. In: First person : new media as story, performance, and game. MIT Press, London, pp. 262–265.
Suchman, L. (2005) Affiliative Objects. Organization, 12 (3). pp. 379–399.
Suchman, L. (2006) "Wajcman confronts cyberfeminism." Social Studies of Science.
Suchman, L. (2007) Feminist STS and the Sciences of the Artificial. In: New Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. MIT Press.
Suchman, L. (2007) Human-Machine Reconfigurations. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Suchman, L. (2011) Practice and its overflows: Reflections on order and mess. TECNOSCIENZA: Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, 2(1):21–30.
Suchman, L. (2011) Anthropological Relocations and the Limits of Design. Annual Review of Anthropology, 40: 1–18.
Suchman, L. (2011) Subject Objects. Feminist Theory, 12 (2): 119–145.
Suchman, L. (2013) Consuming Anthropology. A. Barry & G. Borrn (Eds.), Interdisciplinary: Reconfigurations of the Social and Natural Sciences, (pp. 141–160). London: Routledge.
Suchman, L. (2015). Situational Awareness: Deadly bioconvergence at the boundaries of bodies and machines Media Tropes, V(1), 1-24.
Suchman, L. (2016). Configuring the Other: Sensing War through Immersive Simulation. Catalyst: feminism, theory, technoscience, 2(1).
Suchman, L., & Weber, J. (2016). Human-Machine Autonomies. In N. Bhuta, S. Beck, R. Geis, H.-Y. Liu, & C. Kreis (Eds.), Autonomous Weapons Systems (pp. 75–102). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Awards

1988 Xerox Corporate Research Group's Excellence in Science and Technology Award
2002 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science
2005 Outstanding Contribution to Research Award from the Communication and Information Technologies Section of the American Sociological Association
2010 Lifetime Research Award from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction
2011 Honorary Doctorate at Malmö University.
2014 John Desmond Bernal Prize from the Society for Social Studies of Science.
2018 Honorary Doctorate at Maastricht University.

References

^ Adelson, Beth (2003). "Bringing considerations of situated action to bear on the paradigm of cognitive modeling: the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Medal in computer and cognitive science presented to Lucy Suchman". Journal of the Franklin Institute. 340 (3–4): 290. doi:10.1016/s0016-0032(03)00046-2.
^ "Professor Lucy Suchman". Lancaster University. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019.
"Lucy Suchman". ICRAC. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
Suchman, Lucy. "Lucy Suchman". Robot Futures. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
"Agencies at the Interface: Colloquium with Lucy Suchman". MIT Media Lab. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
"Mythbusting: Corporate Ethnography and the Giant Green Button". PARC. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
Gross, Ana; Suchman, Lucy (30 September 2021). "Lucy Suchman in Conversation with Ana Gross". Sociologica. 15 (2): 179–185. doi:10.6092/issn.1971-8853/13414. ISSN 1971-8853.
Buderi, Robert (1 May 1998). "Field Work in the Tribal Office". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on 19 December 2005. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
Suchman, Lucy (1987). Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem of Human-machine Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 203.
Suchman, Lucy (2007). Human-machine reconfigurations : plans and situated actions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 314.
"Situational awareness and adherence to the principle of distinction as a necessary condition for lawful autonomy - Research Portal | Lancaster University". www.research.lancs.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
"2010 SIGCHI Awards". SIGCHI. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
Professor Lucy Suchman to be made Honorary Doctor Malmö University
"Bernal Prize". Society for Social Studies of Science. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
http://www.maastrichtsts.nl/events-surrounding-honorary-doctorate-for-lucy-suchman/ Events surrounding honorary doctorate for Lucy Suchman

External links

Preceded byMarvin Minsky

Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science
2002

Succeeded byJohn McCarthy (computer scientist)

v t e Lancaster University
Colleges	Bowland Cartmel County Furness Fylde Graduate Grizedale Lonsdale Pendle
People	Chancellor: Alan Milburn Vice-Chancellor: Andy Schofield Academics Alumni Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster
Buildings	Bailrigg InfoLab21 The Ruskin: Library, Museum and Research Centre Chaplaincy Centre
Departments	Lancaster Environment Centre Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts Management School Medical School Lancaster Arts Richardson Institute
Student life	Lancaster University Students' Union Bailrigg FM LA1TV SCAN International Volunteers (InterVol) Boat Club Roses Tournament
Symbols	Coat of arms Red Rose of Lancaster
Category Commons

Portals:

Categories:

Revision as of 02:17, 26 December 2021 editDotx3 (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users2,132 edits added a sentence on work at PARCTag: Visual edit ← Previous edit		Revision as of 02:22, 26 December 2021 edit undoDotx3 (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users2,132 editsmNo edit summaryTag: Visual edit Next edit →
Line 31:		Line 31:
	Her current research extends her longstanding critical engagement with the field of human-computer interaction to the domain of contemporary war fighting, including problems of ‘situational awareness’ in military training and simulation, and in the design and deployment of automated weapon systems. At the center of this research is the question of whose bodies are incorporated into military systems, how and with what consequences for social justice and the possibility for a less violent world.<ref name="Suchman" /> Suchman is a member of ]<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.icrac.net/members/lucy-suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|date=2013-07-03\|website=ICRAC\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref> and the author of the blog dedicated to the problems of ethical robotics and 'technocultures of humanlike machines'<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://robotfutures.wordpress.com/author/suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|last=Suchman\|first=Lucy\|website=Robot Futures\|language=en\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref>		Her current research extends her longstanding critical engagement with the field of human-computer interaction to the domain of contemporary war fighting, including problems of ‘situational awareness’ in military training and simulation, and in the design and deployment of automated weapon systems. At the center of this research is the question of whose bodies are incorporated into military systems, how and with what consequences for social justice and the possibility for a less violent world.<ref name="Suchman" /> Suchman is a member of ]<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.icrac.net/members/lucy-suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|date=2013-07-03\|website=ICRAC\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref> and the author of the blog dedicated to the problems of ethical robotics and 'technocultures of humanlike machines'<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://robotfutures.wordpress.com/author/suchman/\|title=Lucy Suchman\|last=Suchman\|first=Lucy\|website=Robot Futures\|language=en\|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref>

	Before coming to Lancaster, she worked for 22 years at Xerox's ] (PARC) in California, where she held the positions of Principal Scientist and Manager of the Work Practice and Technology research group.<ref name="Adelson 2003 290" /><ref>{{cite web \|title=Agencies at the Interface: Colloquium with Lucy Suchman \|url=http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2009/05/11/agencies-interface-colloquium-lucy-suchman \|work=MIT Media Lab \|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology \|access-date=25 November 2012}}</ref> While at PARC, she conducted an influential ethnographic study, using video, of office workers struggling to use a copy machine, today often referred to as one of the first instances of corporate ethnography.<ref>{{Cite web\|date=2013-12-03\|title=Mythbusting: Corporate Ethnography and the Giant Green Button\|url=https://www.parc.com/blog/mythbusting-corporate-ethnography-and-the-giant-green-button/\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=PARC\|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Gross\|first=Ana\|last2=Suchman\|first2=Lucy\|date=2021-09-30\|title=Lucy Suchman in Conversation with Ana Gross\|url=https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/13414\|journal=Sociologica\|language=en\|volume=15\|issue=2\|pages=179–185\|doi=10.6092/issn.1971-8853/13414\|issn=1971-8853}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|~~date~~=~~2005-12-19~~\|~~title~~=~~The~~ ~~Impact of Emerging Technologies:~~ Field Work in the Tribal Office\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051219052921/https://www.technologyreview.com/articles/98/05/buderi0598.asp\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=~~web.archive.org~~}}</ref>		Before coming to Lancaster, she worked for 22 years at Xerox's ] (PARC) in California, where she held the positions of Principal Scientist and Manager of the Work Practice and Technology research group.<ref name="Adelson 2003 290" /><ref>{{cite web \|title=Agencies at the Interface: Colloquium with Lucy Suchman \|url=http://www.media.mit.edu/events/2009/05/11/agencies-interface-colloquium-lucy-suchman \|work=MIT Media Lab \|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology \|access-date=25 November 2012}}</ref> While at PARC, she conducted an influential ethnographic study, using video, of office workers struggling to use a copy machine, today often referred to as one of the first instances of corporate ethnography.<ref>{{Cite web\|date=2013-12-03\|title=Mythbusting: Corporate Ethnography and the Giant Green Button\|url=https://www.parc.com/blog/mythbusting-corporate-ethnography-and-the-giant-green-button/\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=PARC\|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Gross\|first=Ana\|last2=Suchman\|first2=Lucy\|date=2021-09-30\|title=Lucy Suchman in Conversation with Ana Gross\|url=https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/13414\|journal=Sociologica\|language=en\|volume=15\|issue=2\|pages=179–185\|doi=10.6092/issn.1971-8853/13414\|issn=1971-8853}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|last=Buderi\|first=Robert\|date=May 1, 1998\|title=Field Work in the Tribal Office\|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/1998/05/01/41585/field-work-in-the-tribal-office/\|url-status=live\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051219052921/https://www.technologyreview.com/articles/98/05/buderi0598.asp\|archive-date=2005-12-19\|access-date=2021-12-26\|website=MIT Technology Review\|language=en}}</ref>

	Suchman is a graduate of the ], obtaining her BA in 1972, MA in 1977, and Doctorate in Social and Cultural ] in 1984.<ref name="Suchman" /> While at Berkeley, she wrote her dissertation on the work practices of accountants. She studied procedural office work to understand how it was similar to and different from a program, assumptions around the work, and how the work informed the design of these systems.		Suchman is a graduate of the ], obtaining her BA in 1972, MA in 1977, and Doctorate in Social and Cultural ] in 1984.<ref name="Suchman" /> While at Berkeley, she wrote her dissertation on the work practices of accountants. She studied procedural office work to understand how it was similar to and different from a program, assumptions around the work, and how the work informed the design of these systems.